Rebuilding a Relationship
by Overlord-Flinx
Summary: Not long after the fall of Cyclonia, Master Cyclonis revisits her fallen home and reaquaints herself with an old comrade. DA/MC friendship or relationship? You decide


**DISCLAIMER: You know... Don't own Storm Hawks... so yeah... no sueing**

**Welcome, now i bet you're wondering "Overlord you handsom God send, why are you doing this kind of story?" Well i'll tell you my loved viewers. I do this because I like these two, and I like this show, so I decided to do one story and offer it up to them... yes, I know i could've done somthing else, stop telling me that and read.**

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The pinnacle of Atmos's fears, the towering Terra Cyclonia, now nothing more then a sundered heap resting below the clouds and atop the molten fields of the Wastelands. What remained of Tower Cyclonia had fallen to a chunk of stable Wasteland ground, while everything else had been incinerated by the thick pool of lava or the massive beasts that inhabited the horrible under lands. The tower was all but abandoned, Cyclonis, in her hunger of power and thirst for victory had all but sent every aspect of her army to fight the Sky Knights before the fall of her Kingdom… so sure of winning. The crumbled halls of the fallen empire echoed the sound of light foot steps, being the only sound that graced the forgotten Terra that fell not a week ago. The light steps clacked through out the abandoned halls that where filled with shattered glass windows, caved in walls, and fallen banners. The sound of foot steps made no halt at any of the destruction that littered the hall; just continued to echo towards the center of the Tower: The Throne room. The steps came to a halt before the door of the throne room, or lack there of. The throne room doors had been knocked from their hinges and hung open limply. "…I never did like that door…" said the person who had entered the shattered Terra.

Her petite body was covered in three layers of cape, a shoulder cloak over it, and a red and black hood that nearly shaded over her young face. Her amethyst eyes skimmed across the circular room, noted every altered aspect of it from what it once was. Strewn across the metallic floor where the small, powder reduced remains of her great Far Side crystal. Her lips curled in disgust at the red shards across the floor; to which she proceeded to walk across the room towards her –now toppled- crystal lab. The metal claws and arms that she once used to organize and amplify her crystal collection where now all but snapped and crushed under fallen ceiling fragments. But, what actually bothered her wasn't the crushed image of her Crystal Lab, but her crystals scattered about around the floor of her lab; most if not all cracked and broken. Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, all meshed into a beautiful but strangely horrific mound of twinkling shards. With an annoyed flair in her eyes, she went to her knees and ran a hand through the mess of crystals, letting the sharp and coarse crystal fragments brush across her pail skin. Her lips remained flat, and her eyes grew dull. Just then, the sound of metallic scrapping across stone filled slowly entered the confines of the room she was in. The partially unhinged doors of the room creaked open wider as the glint of gold-ish scrap metal armor came into view, much to Cyclonis's surprise; despite her remaining in her un-amused expression. "…Dark Ace… Surprised to see you're alive," She greeted to him coldly.

As he drew out of the darkness of the door way, it was clear to her he was off. His right arm was clenched tightly by the shoulder with his left hand and he staggered towards her, visibly in pain with each limping step. But it wasn't just his movements and physical stature that where off, but also his appearance. The sleeves of both his arms where burned of to his split shoulder pads; along with the left leg of his pants where singed up to his knee cap, which no longer had any padding. She continued to look at him with little interest in her eyes as he drew closer; that was until he looked up at her. Once the dip of his hair was out of his facial visage, her eyes grew wide while her hand covered her mouth to curtail a gasp. As he looked up at her, noticing her surprise on her face, his lips turned to a smirk. "Are you surprised to see me alive? Or are you more surprised about what has happened to my face?" The Dark Ace asked, dipping down to a bow before his Master.

Dark Ace's once strong and featured face now was nearly split into two. The right side of his face remained that of the Commander that Cyclonis remembered, but the left side of his face had become ridged, and cracked with crystalline-like fissures that burned red and that had turned the once red pupil eye on his left into a pure amber glowing stone. Cyclonis dropped her hand and cracked a wicked smirk as she looked at her Commander. "What if I say both?" She softly cackled at her own question, and noticed that Dark Ace was smiling again. Sharply, she ended her laughter and sneered at Dark Ace. "But tell me… how is it you survived the flux of energy I sent into you?" Dark Ace simply smirked at her question and brushed a leather gloved hand against his scarred face.

"Perhaps you didn't try hard enough to kill me…" Cyclonis rose to her feet sharply and turned to look at him, bane in her amethyst eyes.

"How is it you speak that way to your Master?" She hissed, bringing Dark Ace to flinch but still kept his stance.

"I—" Dark Ace's voice became thick and unable to make out any words, to which Cyclonis felt a sharp blade pierce her heart from that subtle action.

Her heart felt heavy, but she managed to bring a scowl onto her face. Slowly, her hood uncurled like a blooming flower and revealed her pale face and heavily shadowed eyes. The black strands of her short hair became visible, along with the narrowing spite in her eyes. "You lost faith in me… didn't you? Or perhaps, haven't you?" She accused the tall dark haired man before her.

Ace's lips clamped shut, and he remained in place, motionless other then his eyes averting her gaze. Cyclonis felt the blade twist in her heart, bringing her to bite her lip, unable to understand why she was hurt. But she took in a breath and returned to looking at Ace, gaining her smug eye glint and lip raise while looking at him. "Dark Ace… Do you know why I did all of this?" She questioned him, gesturing to all the wreckage of the broken tower and fallen Terra. Dark Ace seemed to ponder her question, but she just shook her head at him. "Of course you don't… I did all this for my grandmother," Cyclonis informed him while taking her staff out from behind her and looking at the single crystal in it's focusing hold. Her hand gentle pressed to the prismatic, smooth surface of the stone as her face turned to one of defeat. "My ancestry wished to take over all of Atmos, but they where stuck in their old ways… they didn't take advantage of our birthright, of the Far Side," She told Dark Ace, who seemed to be absorbing all this new information with what respect he could muster up, ignoring his pained body. "I was so close to victory… to succeeding where they failed. They would've been so proud," Dark Ace took this moment to finally voice himself openly, hesitant at first though.

"They would've been of that Master-" Dark Ace whispered but still made it loud enough for her to hear.

"How do you know?" Cyclonis snapped, pointing her staff at Dark Ace, sparking the crystal of it to begin its starter glow. "You know little of her… and even less of me," She murmured under her breath while her staff charged, ready to blast Dark Ace.

Despite the threat of the blast and killer intent in Cyclonis's eyes, Dark Ace made no sign of worry, stepping forward and grabbing the other end of her staff; his hand shaking from his overwhelming pain. "I know you wanted to succeed where she failed," With a glance around the fallen Terra and sundered décor of the once great Tower. "Even if it meant losing everything you held dear… That is if you do hold anything dear beyond your memory crystals," Cyclonis's eyes grew even more furious; but at the same time, she snapped the staff out of Dark Ace's hand and put it to her side, receding its planned strike.

Dark Ace looked at her annoyed expression, but knew he had struck a cord and narrowly evaded her wrath and strikes. "…Perhaps so. But everything that mattered to me was with me…" She told him, showing that in a small sash pocket, she had several crystals safely tucked away. "…All but one thing wasn't safely removed from the Terra before the battle…"

Dark Ace tilted his head and perked the black luster brow above his human eye, curious what that was. Cyclonis picked up on his action, but held her tongue for a moment. To Dark Ace, it was strange. His Master, his proud, sociopathic, ingenious Master never hesitated to say anything, much less avert her gaze from any individual. "…It was an important aspect to me…" Sharply, her eyes looked back to Dark Ace and he felt as if an arrow was shot through him; making him wish he would've been blasted by her staff over her piercing eyes seeing into him.

Dark Ace swallowed his hesitation and spoke up to his Master. "Do you mean—"

"There was a reason I wanted you to command your unit from a distance…" She interrupted him in a hush.

For a moment, Dark Ace felt his chest become ridged and heavy. "You're skills would've been wasted with just fighting against all the sky knights virtually alone… You're Talon's are a pathetic bunch," She quickly added, turning away from him and back to the mess of her Crystal lab. "At least with the Nightcrawlers, your skills would not have been wasted," As she continued to explain everything to him, she heard his limp foot steps come up behind her and up the small steeping stairs. She felt the weight of his hand pat down onto her shoulder and remain there. She took a brief moment to actually feel his contact with her, unable to remember when it was last that anyone had touched her in such a manner. "I sacrificed my Terra, my home, my ancestry, my crystals, but I wasn't willing to lose you... You embody everything Grandmother stood for... all her old fashioned ways…" Her voice was low and meek, but to Dark Ace, it felt like thousands of needles being pricked into his spine.

"…Is that all?" He asked hesitantly, regretting it as it passed out his lips.

Cyclonis gasped inwardly and tensioned her body. She felt her face starting to burn for whatever the reason, so she stepped closer to her Crystal Lab and out of Dark Ace's reach. "…Remember who you speak to Dark Ace," She reminded him in spite, but also with an under laying tone of sorrow.

Dark Ace nodded, understanding their position with one another. For a moment, the room was quiet, Cyclonis aimlessly looking at her destroyed Lab; While Dark Ace pondered about what to say. "…I don't know how I survived…" Dark Ace let out, softly breaking the silence. Cyclonis partially looked over her shoulder at him. "Maybe your Far Side magic wasn't strong enough to destroy me?"

"Dark Ace… Do you think I tried to kill you?" Cyclonis asked, not turning to him anymore then just glancing over her shoulder.

Dark Ace made no reply, but it was painfully obvious to Cyclonis what he thought. "…I see…" Hearing her voice, he felt a slight hurt to it.

"I don't blame you if you did… my actions on our last days before the war where reprehensible. And…" He recalled the final moments before Cyclonis surged the crystal's power into him. _"Do something you arrogant witch!"_ those last words he said to her rang in his head, and, though he didn't know, in her head as well. "My apologizing can not make up for what I called you master…"

"…You can try," Cyclonis told him softly. Dark Ace's heart skipped a beat as she muttered those somewhat forgiving words. "But Dark Ace… may you answer me a question?"

"Anything my Master," Hearing his response, she turned around and looked at him directly.

"Why where you so ridged about the final days before the war?" Dark Ace seemed to tension up at her question, but he quickly shook it off and felt the ridged fissures on his face.

"Using Crystals is well and good Master… But your family never sought out Far Side magic for a reason…" Dark Ace explained to Cyclonis.

He waited for her to rebuttal him with a sharp crack or witty remark, but never got one. She only nodded and turned away again. "You're right of course… But I desired to take over all of Atmos, and the Far Side had all the power I needed," Her eyes looked about her surroundings- at the destroyed tower and Terra that was her home. "But see how it all came out… with nothing,"

"It's not that bad…" Dark Ace attempted to console her, looking about the area as well for some way to help her emotionally. "We can… try it again," Dark Ace flinched as Cyclonis looked at him again and stomped up to him, a purple aura growing around her.

"Try again? With _what_! The Terra was destroyed along with all our supplies and equipment!" She fumed, eyes filling with conviction.

But in one instant, all the hate and raging aura that surrounded her drained away as she felt a coarse grip on her small hand. Her amethyst orbs glanced down at her hand and saw Dark Ace's hands where cupping it as he kneeled down onto one leg, visible pain across his face. "We will rebuild it, as long as we stand as one: Master and Commander. We can remake an army and reclaim glory and fear through out all of Atmos… And we can do it without Far Side magic," He told her, keeping his grip on her hand.

Cyclonis continued to look down at him, surprised by his action and words. Though he was wearing gloves, she felt a warmth through his gloves that she strangely enjoyed. "…Will you remain as my Commander?" She asked, placing her own hand on his gloved back hand.

Dark Ace's lips curled to a smirk and he struggled to rise up, not breaking his hand contact with her for a moment. "As long as you remain my Master, I will be anything," He assured her proudly. "I assure you, from here on, I will follow you into whatever awaits us… and someday, you will have an army again and we will retake Atmos, Master," At that, Cyclonis looked down and smirked sheepishly.

"Dark Ace..?"

"Yes my Master?" Suddenly, Dark Ace felt a slight squeeze to his hands and saw a warm smile cross Cyclonis's young and beautiful visage.

"Call me… Lark…" Her words came out softly, but slapped a deep shock into Dark Ace. But before he could say anything about it, he felt the chilled yet soft palm of Cyclonis touch the fissures in the left side of his face. "That scar actually makes you look more… roguish," She admitted, admiring the glow of his amber eye and cracked side of face.

Cupping her hand on his face, he smirked devilishly down at her. "Then I'm glad it happened… Lark," He chuckled as he felt the red fissures on his face.

Cyclonis slowly parted from Dark Ace and descended down the stairs and across the wrecked flooring of the room. "Come Dark Ace… there is a whole world awaiting our return," Dark Ace watched her pass him, smiling as her back was to him.

He bowed to her and mustered all his might to move along with her, ignoring his overwhelming pain in his legs. The two walking close together, they left the fallen capital of Terra Cyclonia and into the broiling heat of the Wastelands. Dark Ace walked ahead of Cyclonis, who had stopped and looked back at her Tower. The tower, or what was left of it, had leaned its towering mass onto a giant nearby stalagmite. "…I will be back for you… Right after the Storm Hawks pay," She vowed to her tower with a venomous hiss.

Behind her, she heard the revving of a The Talon Switchblade Elite; Dark Ace's personal Skimmer. She looked over to his direction and walked over to him on his Skimmer. He scooted up and made room for her to sit on the seat behind him, to which she nodded and sat down behind him. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she leaned forward, settling herself in safely. "Where shall we go first?" She asked Dark Ace coolly.

With a rev of the engine, he flicked the Skimmer around and took off down the molten surface of the Wastelands. "I was thinking Terra Zartacla…" As he yelled over the engine, the Skimmer took to the smoke ridden air, Lava Eels roaring up at them from down in their pool of endless lava.

"You're driving… your choice," Cyclonis half joked, taking a moment to look down at the Lava Eels and other beasts.

They both went quite as the Skimmer soared through the hazardous skies, Cyclonis holding tightly onto the waist of Dark Ace; who was smiling and thanking himself inwardly for coming to find his cherished Master.

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**Oh ho, how was it? Please, do tell, and say whatever you want.**

**I personaly think it's a grand story with fine detail... But I don't know if i should make a follow up story on how this all works out for them... What do YOU think?**

**See you in the big times**

**~Overlord-Flinx**


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